Newbie Question - Water Heater on or off?

OK, makes sense with the thermostat bit. I think then what i'll do is turn it off at night and flick it on in the morning as part of that cuppa routine and let it do it's thing. We only intend on being in the van for the morning and evening as plan on  being out for the daytime but i'll leave it on thorugh the day based on feedback given. Seems silly to leave it on all night even if it uses little energy as i'll definately not be getting up to do the dishes.

 

Thanks all!

It's your choice, Mike, but you're doing a bit of fence sitting there. Why only let the thermostat do its job by day but turn the boiler off overnight?

If you leave the boiler on overnight when no cold water will be added to the boiler to replace used hot, the thermostat will trigger the use of only negligible power. Turning it off and then on in the morning will use more power to heat from the decreased temp all in one go. 

Up to you. 

At this time of year any heat loss from the stored hot water is not wasted - it can only add heat to the caravan.

I support TW's view and we do the same both in the van and at home.

peedee

Yes, PD, we do the same at home as well. We let the thermostat do its job and just have different temp settings for the heating throughout the 24 hr period. 

It depends where we are, but 90% of the time we would leave it on, 100% on if in UK.

In summer, if on a metered pitch (common in Germany) we would only heat the water when we actually want to use it, and then probably use gas for that.  We would also use the site facilities more than we usually do.

At home, our HW is always on.

while in the caravan the hot water is always on, but at home it's a combi boiler so hot water is on demand

while in the caravan the hot water is always on, but at home it's a combi boiler so hot water is on demand

Same here.

Read somewhere a trial has been done with domestic immersion heaters and they concluded it uses less energy to leave them on all the time. Probably the same with caravan heaters.

We have an "ECO" position on our van water heater  so leave it on all the time ,and just alter to boost to make it hotter,if needed

while in the caravan the hot water is always on, but at home it's a combi boiler so hot water is on demand

Same here.

Read somewhere a trial has been done with domestic immersion heaters and they concluded it uses less energy to leave them on all the time. Probably the same with caravan heaters.

All depends on the efficiency of the thermal insulation.

I'm with TW and others. My water heating is switched on as soon as we arrive on a site and only goes off when we leave.

TF

while in the caravan the hot water is always on, but at home it's a combi boiler so hot water is on demand

Same here.

Read somewhere a trial has been done with domestic immersion heaters and they concluded it uses less energy to leave them on all the time. Probably the same with caravan heaters.

+1 Fysh. Domestic heating that is